Truman College was chosen to be the hub for early childhood education. (City Colleges of Chicago photo)

Gwendolyn May had a terrible attendance record, but passed every City Colleges of Chicago class she took.

It wasn’t that she had classmates who were great note-takers or had access to test questions. She actually heard every word her professors said. She just couldn’t go in the classrooms.

Carting three kids in tow, she would put a blanket down outside the classroom and take notes while her three children read, played and slept.

“My children grew up on that blanket,” said May, who eventually went on to teach child development classes for City Colleges and was a driving force in getting the community college system’s early childhood program accredited.

Well-aware as she is of the lengths that dedicated students will go for their education, May is not sure how many students will travel from the city’s South and West sides to finish early childhood education requirements at Truman College on the city’s Far North Side as being proposed by City Colleges leaders.

The idea is part of a plan to align each of the seven city colleges with the seven industries poised for the greatest job growth in the Chicago region. Truman was chosen to be the hub for early childhood education.

Laurent Pernot, executive vice chancellor and senior advisor for City Colleges, said that early childhood students would be able to take 75 to 95 percent of their classes either online or at their home college.

“They can finish online or take their advanced courses at Truman,” Pernot said. “They can take four-fifths of their basic courses and two-thirds of their advanced courses online or at their home college.”

He said turning the seven individual colleges into centers of excellence would help the learning institution better partner with businesses in the region.

“Six years ago, we reinvented the institution,” Pernot said. “We want degrees to be relevant, particularly in growth industries.”

To that end, City Colleges designated Truman College in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood as focusing on child development curriculum. As part of that new focus, City Colleges put $1 million into renovations at Truman’s child development center.

Chicago Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10^th Ward) blasted the proposal at a City Council hearing last week, saying it would take individuals on the Southeast Side more than 90 minutes to get to Truman via public transportation.

“A lot of people in my ward don’t have cars,” Sadlowski said. “They need to drop their kids off at daycare. It would take them three hours to travel to and from Truman. It is 41 minutes by car and that is when traffic is good. They can start their classes at Olive-Harvey (College) and then you are going to move people? … You are making it harder for people to fulfill their education requirements. I cannot condone what City Colleges is doing to student programs.”

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